Tuning is the process of adjusting the pitch of one or many tones from musical instruments to establish typical intervals between these tones. Tuning is usually based on a fixed reference frequency. A musical instrument is “out of tune” when a pitch/tone is either too high (sharp) or too low (flat) in relation to a given reference frequency. While an instrument might be in tune relative to its own range of notes, it may not be considered “in tune” if it does not match the reference frequency. Musical instruments generally become ‘out of tune’ with use, damage or time and have to be repaired by re-tuning the instrument. Moreover, stringed musical instruments (such as guitars) are very susceptible to go “out of tune” during performances as a result of humidity, temperature and continuous tensions applied on strings during the performance.
Manual tuning of a stringed musical instrument is a very difficult and tedious task, and generally requires an important amount of time, experience and skills. Manual tuning is very inconvenient for beginner musicians who usually do not have the required skills and experience to tune a musical instrument. The inconvenient of manually tuning a musical instrument are numerous. For example, manual tuning can have a negative effect on trainees where time consumed thereby to tune an instrument is generally taken out from their instrument training time, having as a consequence a loss of motivation in their training. Moreover, during performances, musicians usually do not have the opportunity to manually tune their instruments. In fact, retuning a musical instrument during a performance will result in an interruption of the performance in front of the audience. Besides, where the musician doesn't have the capabilities to tune the instrument, specialized technicians should be available during the performance period in order to retune the instrument when required. As an alternative to tuning instruments during performances, musicians should be equipped with extra pre-tuned instruments in order to replace the “out of tune” ones when necessary.
To remedy the problem of manual tuning, a number of automatic tuning devices, systems and apparatuses have been proposed. U.S. Pat. No. 4,803,908 describes an automatic musical instrument tuning system in which an adjustment mean for changing the frequency of a musical tone is devised. The described embodiment shows the motors as being built inside the musical instrument. The mechanical means for changing the tuning is directly connected to the strings from the bridge side of the instrument. This has many disadvantages such as modifying the sound of the instrument. Another disadvantage of said tuning system is its lack of versatility (adaptability) in the sense that different musical instruments would require different tuning mechanisms embedded therein.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/207,187 describes a string musical tuner that contains a processor and a string adjustment assembly. This assembly is capable of reversibly changing the position of a string contact surface in the string adjustment assembly with respect to the string, hence modifying the tuning. The proposed mechanism is embedded in the musical instrument and thus can never be separated therefrom. In fact, this instrument must contain the embodiment of the mechanism which can be built into the guitar as an integral part or retrofitted into an existing guitar.
Other US patents/patent applications exist in the field, such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,014,242, U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,496 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,803,908 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/835,259 and Ser. No. 11/207,187. In all the previous prior art, either no automatic tuning of the string is devised or, if an automatic tuning is suggested, the mechanical tuning mechanism had to be built inside the instrument.
The traditional tuning devices have many disadvantages, such as being mechanically complex and costly. Besides, the suggested mechanical assemblage means built inside the instrument has the drawback of modifying the sound thereof and being adapted to be used in connection with only one musical instrument. Thus, in order to be able to tune different types of musical instruments, a plurality of tuning devices would be required.